The Russian Defense Ministry said on January 17 that the Russian army had liberated more than 63% of the territory in Kursk Oblast that had been occupied by the Ukrainian army. This represents an area of 801 square kilometers out of the total 1,268 square kilometers that Kiev controlled after the August 2024 offensive.
In the first two weeks of January 2025, units from the Northern Military Group recaptured the villages of Alexandriya, Leonidovo, Russkoye Porechnoye and Kruglenkoye, the Russian military reported on Telegram.
In the previous 24 hours, a Ukrainian counterattack aimed at halting the Russian advance near the village of Berdin was repelled. The Russian military reported inflicting significant losses on the Ukrainian army, forcing Ukrainian forces to retreat to their original positions.
The total number of Ukrainian servicemen killed in the area in the previous 24 hours was more than 230. The destroyed equipment included one tank, three armored personnel carriers - two of which were US-made Strykers - two armored fighting vehicles and four artillery pieces, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"The Russian army is advancing in all directions," the Russian Defense Ministry stressed.
In the first two weeks of 2025 alone, the Ukrainian military lost more than 5,600 soldiers and more than 570 pieces of military equipment in Kursk Oblast. These figures include 40 tanks, 213 infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles, 91 artillery pieces and mortars, and more than 210 other vehicles.
Ukraine launched a large-scale offensive in Kursk province in early August 2024. Ukraine's surprise attack was aimed at forcing Russia to divert resources from the main front and to use control of Kursk as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations.
Since the start of fighting in the Kursk region, the Ukrainian army has lost more than 52,450 troops, 304 tanks, 231 infantry fighting vehicles, 173 armored personnel carriers, 1,562 armored fighting vehicles, 371 artillery pieces, 44 multiple rocket launchers, including 13 American-made ones. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 6 HIMARS systems and 6 MLRS systems have been destroyed.
